By DAVID J. HILL

“Historically, exercise science has been about athletes and performance. More recently, it has become apparent that preventing chronic disease through diet and exercise is cheaper and better than medical treatment.”

Dave Hostler, chair

Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences

Dave Hostler, an expert in emergency incident rehabilitation, is
the new chair of the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences
in the School of Public Health and Health Professions.

Hostler comes to UB from the University of Pittsburgh, where he
was an associate professor of emergency medicine and the Department
of Emergency Medicine Professor of First Responder Health &
Safety. Hostler earned his bachelor’s and master’s
degrees from Wright State University, and his doctorate in
physiology from Ohio University. Hostler began his tenure at UB on
Aug. 15; he had been at Pitt since 2001.

Hostler’s research interests focus on human performance
and the physiological responses of public safety personnel working
in protective clothing. Hostler has 25 years of experience in
public safety.

At Pitt, he was a founding faculty member and director of the
Emergency Responder Human Performance Lab, for which he directed
studies to understand the stresses associ­ated with emergency
response and developed interventions to improve the health and
safety of the nation’s first responders.

These include the Fireground Rehab Evaluation (FIRE) Trial and
the Enhanced Firefighter Rehab Trial (EFFoRT). Additionally, he was
principal investiga­tor for the SHIELD Trial examining the role
of statin drugs and cardiovascular stress in firefighters.

The Emergency Responder Human Performance Lab has moved with
Hostler to UB, occupying part of Sherman and Farber halls.
“I’m looking forward to continuing my work with public
safety providers in Buffalo,” Hostler says.

At UB, Hostler plans to focus on two key research areas. The
first entails addressing the long-term effects on firefighters of
the physiologic strain that occurs during fire suppression.

“We know a lot about what happens to the heart and body
temperature 20 minutes after, but we know very little about the
long-term effects,” says Hostler. “With reaction time
and decision-making, that kind of fatigue doesn’t appear
right away, but it does surface up to one or two hours later, which
would affect firefighters if they had to go to another
fire.”

The other line of work will focus on recovery from burns.
“There’s a hypermetabolic phase that occurs after a
burn, and the larger the burn, the worse the hyper­metabolic
response,” Hostler says. “We’ll be looking at
exercise and nutrition interventions to hopefully reduce the muscle
wasting that occurs during recovery.”

A firefighter and paramedic by training, Hostler served on the
county Hazmat team in Pittsburgh.

“I joined SPHHP to be part of a strong program that is
continuing to grow. ENS has a strong faculty and a bright
future,” he says. “Historically, exercise science has
been about athletes and performance. More recently, it has become
apparent that preventing chronic disease through diet and exercise
is cheaper and better than medical treatment. Placing exercise
science and nutri­tion in a School of Public Health is a
progressive idea that allows researchers to link the science of
physical activity and nutrition to the end users, be they the
gen­eral public, underserved communities or, in my case, public
safety providers.”